Brad Lofton says
“all of a sudden we haven’t heard anymore about environmental racism.”
I guess he hasn’t looked at the local NAACP’s
front page on the web.
Valdosta NAACP Claims Environmental Racism
The Valdosta-Lowndes branch of the NAACP unanimously passed a resolution
of Environmental Racism concerning the siting of Sterling Planet’s
Wiregrass Power, LLC, Biomass Incinerator, slated for construction in
Valdosta, Georgia, next to the Mud Creek wastewater treatment plant.
This incinerator is sited in a predominantly black community: within 2
miles of the incinerator are 2 predominantly black elementary schools,
J.L. Lomax with 607 students and Southeast with 304 students, and
one predominantly white elementary school, Moulton-Branch with over
500 students. The “Little Blue School” Head Start program serves over
165 children ages 3-5. There are 7 large black churches including
Valdosta’s largest African-American church, New Life Ministries,
pastored by Dr. Angela Manning, who has organized one Town Hall against
the Biomass incinerator. Other churches include the Church at Pine
Hill, Morning Star Baptist, Evangel Temple, Church of God of Prophecy,
and others, with congregations numbering hundreds. In the area is
Sands-Horizon assisted living facility which serves over 60 families,
2 large apartment complexes, Brittany Woods and Park Chase, as well as
Valdosta’s largest and most affuent black residential community.Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority,
Brad Lofton, rejects the claim of environmental racism, and at the
September 27, 2010, Valdosta Board of Education meeting called Valdosta
NAACP President Touchton “irresponsible” for making the public claim.
He says there are seven times more white people who live around the
proposed plant. He did not address the fact that school children and
church members do not show up on census forms.The incinerator will emit 87-89 tons per year of tiny particulate
matter smaller than 10 microns in size, the most dangerous particulate
pollution because it lodges permanently in people’s lungs. According to
the American Cancer Society, the community can expect a rise of 4% in
all-cause cancer for every 10 microgram per cubic meter rise in this
pollutant. According to the American Cancer Society,cardiopulmonary
disease will increase by 6% or more, and lung cancer will increase by 8%
or more. The people most likely to be affected are the people who live,
work, worship, go to school nearest the plant.VLCIA Executive Director Brad Lofton claims the incinerator will bring
25 jobs and tax revenue to our local schools.More than 50 semi-trucks per day will travel to and from the incinerator.
The American Lung Association has documented the rise in asthma, missed
school days, hospital emergency room visits for school children exposed
to diesel fumes if they attend schools near highways. The diesel truck
traffic will increase by a 50 trucks per day, 365 days per year, which
will exacerbate the exposure of these children to diesel fumes.VLCIA Executive Director Brad Lofton claims the incinerator will bring
25 jobs and tax revenue to our local schools.The incinerator will burn more than 640,000 tons of wood every year.
According to the American Lung Association, “Burning biomass could lead
to significant increases in emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulate
matter and sulfur dioxide and have severe impacts on the health of
children, older adults, and people with lung disease.” According to
the ALA, there is NO SAFE LIMIT for particulate matter below 10 microns
in size, death can result on one day of exposure to this type
of particulate matter.VLCIA Executive Director Brad Lofton says this incinerator will bring
25 jobs and provide tax revenue to the local schools.The North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians reports that “Biomass
burning ..of wood waste creates emissions of particulate matter
that…increase the risk of..asthma, chronic bronchitis, and heart
disease.” Other pollutants include nitrogen oxides, volatile organic
compounds which increase smog and ozone, which are known to increase
lung disease and mortality; as well as sulfur dioxides which contribute
to respiratory disease.VLCIA Executive Director Brad Lofton says this incinerator will bring
25 jobs and provide tax revenue to the local schools.The smokestack from this facility will reach 150 feet skyward. According
to Allan Ricketts of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority,
the community was slated to get a smokestack 175 feet high but since they
aren’t going to pollute quite as much as they previously estimated the
EPD allowed them to lower it to a “mere” 150 feet and the smokestack
will be aesthetically landscaped by pine trees, which reach about 75
feet high. They showed the Valdosta Board of Education an artist’s
rendition of a smokestack painted royal blue and white towering over the
local skyline and described how well it would fit into its surroundings.
Local Valdosta State University professor Dr. Gretchen Bielmyer reports
that mercury from the burning of wood and sewage sludge from the
so-called aesthetic smokestack will travel 50 kilometers as a result.
Mercury accumulates in the food chain, it is toxic in low levels and can
cause brain damage, especially for unborn babies, infants, and children.
Pregnant and nursing mothers pass it on to their babies.VLCIA Executive Director Brad Lofton says the incinerator will provide
25 jobs and tax revenue to the local schools. VLCIA employee Allan
Ricketts says it will be nicely landscaped.More than 45 of these kinds of incinerators have been built and SHUT
DOWN around the country. More than 50 are currently proposed and
almost unanimously have engendered strong local opposition from Florida
to Indiana to Massachusetts to Vermont to Texas. More than 10 have
been proposed in Georgia, and some have been swiftly opposed and run
out of town, most recently in Hartwell, Georgia. In Massachusetts,
more than 120,000 citizens petitioned to have a voter referendum on
the ballot this November to permanently ban them. As a result of the
signatures and citizen opposition, the Massachusetts legislature took
away biomass incinerator tax credits, effectively eliminating them as
commercial enterprises, permanently. When the companies are run out of
one town or state, they move to places like Georgia, where environmental
regulations are lax and businesses are given huge tax incentives to build
these kinds of incinerators, and investors count on the local population
being uninformed and apathetic.In Georgia, asthma deaths among African American males are three times
greater than among Caucasian males (4.3% to 1.4%), and deaths among
African American females are 2.2 times greater (4% to 1.8%) than in
Caucasian females. African American children are five times more likely
to die from asthma than white children.Tallahassee NAACP Legal Redress Chair sent this letter.
Tallahassee Biomass incinerator owners subsequently left town.
http://nobiomassburning.org/docs/FDEP_Civil_Rights_Letter.pdfPlease contact Sterling Planet Energy and tell them what you think
about this:
www.sterlingplanet.com/customer-service/